Sunday, January 22, 2012

Wow, I've been a bad blogger. Three whole weeks without a post. Well, if there's anything to get me to post again, it would be a Team Library Dork trip to NorCal for a race.

Last year Chris, Dave and I headed over to Roseville for the Whole Foods Running School Half Marathon. (Need to tighten the name up a little, guys, it's a mouthful.) This year we talked Amber into coming along as well, so it was a full TLD roster. Chris, Amber and I did the 10K, and Dave attacked the 5K as part of his master plan.

It was a snowy drive over the pass, but not too bad. The Hyatt Regency just down the street from the race hosted us, and half of the group hit the hot tub the night before the race. Unfortunately, Chris's race shorts didn't dry completely overnight, and he was reduced to this race morning:

I think he got that worked out eventually.

We drove to the race, picked our packets up, got instruction from the over-helpful volunteers on how to apply the timing chips to our shoes, and then just tried to stay warm. Well, Amber tried to stay warm. We got to watch the 5K start:

Time to line up for the 10K. Amber was cold, but still smiling -

So, we took off. Chris was long gone in front of us, and Amber and I just took our own time. First mile was in the 8:20 range, then we slowed down for a couple miles to 8:40 ish. Saw Chris coming back toward us somewhere in there, leading by a good margin:

After the third mile marker (which was off by a bit, causing Chris some concern) Amber picked up the pace and I had to hustle to stay with her. Fortunately, the course had changed a bit from last year and the last couple miles included some hills - where I was able to stay with her. Despite the hills, we negative splitted the last three miles.

Chris and Dave met us on their cool down and ran us the last quarter mile back to the finish. Chris had won the 10K, and the unexpected hills foiled Dave's fast 5K bid. Amber and I finished the 10K in 50: 40 sominthings.

After some loitering at the finish area, and Whole Foods breakfast burritos, we adjourned to the hotel and a beer tasting with a couple local runners, Mark and Andy. This was our contribution, about half of the total:

After the mandatory trip to Total Wine, some calories from Chipotle, and a refill of coffee, we headed back over an (again) snowy pass to Reno. Another successful TLD venture - thanks guys. Had a great time.